29 December 2015: Thank you to our newest "Believer," Gregg Nathanson, for his most recent contribution to The Detroit College Promise.

21 December 2015: Thank you to our newest "Believer," Fred Fechheimer Trust, for his most recent contribution to The Detroit College Promise.

15 December 2015: Thank you to our newest "Believer," Dr. Martin Lipschultz, for his most recent contribution to The Detroit College Promise.

5 December 2015: Thank you to The Robert & Bess Cook Foundation, a "Visionary," for their continued contributions to The Detroit College Promise. Thank you to our "Advocates," Peter and Mary Blom, for their stock share donations to The Detroit College Promise. Also, thank you to our new "Advocate," Dr. Ihab Hosny, for his monthly contributions to The Detroit College Promise.

7 November 2015: We are pleased to announce that we are now a program of the Detroit Public Schools Foundation. For the 2015-16 college year, we will continue to make the payments. For scholarships beginning in the 2016-17 school year, please contact them at (313) 873-3348 or info@dpsfdn.org or click here.

30 October 2015: Thank you to our newest "Believer," Bluma Schechter, for her continued contributions to The Detroit College Promise.

21 September 2015: Thank you to our newest "Advocates," Mary Nehls-Frumkin & Jeff Frumkin, for their continued contributions to The Detroit College Promise.

13 July 2015: Thank you to our "Visionary," A. Pernick, for her continued contributions to The Detroit College Promise.

6 April 2015:
Help shape the future of Detroit students by making education a priority for them. When you use the Goodshop.com shopping portal to enter and purchase items at any of 5,000+ retail sites, Goodshop will donate to The Detroit College Promise money based on what you buy through this shopping portal! Go ahead and buy that flight + hotel package from Orbitz, running shoes from Adidas or custom-fit Polo shirts from Ralph Lauren. It doesn’t matter what you buy through the portal, as every purchase generates a donation that will help students get the education they want and deserve. Get started raising funds and educating our future leaders by signing up, choosing The Detroit College Promise as your cause, and using Goodshop's portal when shopping online!

16 March 2015: Thank you to our "Supporter", Quicken Loans for their generous grant to The Detroit College Promise. We appreciate their continued support of our organization.

13 March 2015: If you have been using your Kroger Rewards Card to support the Detroit College Promise you must re-enroll each April, even if you just signed up in February or March. It's easy to re-enroll, just click here. Once you have logged in, simply click on the "Community Rewards" tab and click "edit". Type in "Detroit College Promise," it will then allow you to select our organization. If you have never registered your Kroger Card, click here for directions on how to make your shopping dollars work for a good cause!

13 March 2015: Thank you also to the company 4imprint for their generous donations toward our scholarship reception raffle.

6 March 2015: We welcome Ray E. Metz, Interim Vice Chancellor at U of M Dearborn, to our Advisory Board. His predecessor, Dr. Stanley Henderson, was very helpful in providing information about scholarships to set up the structure of The Detroit College Promise, and we wish him well in his retirement.

24 February 2015: Dr. Pernick recently appeared on a local TV show called The Community Shall be Restored. Please watch his interview that begins at the 34 minute mark: Click Here to watch. Thanks!

27 January 2015: Did you know that anyone with a PayPal account using eBay can donate to The Detroit College Promise right away – without buying or selling anything? Your donation will be delivered by PayPal Giving Fund, eBay's nonprofit partner. Just click on the Donate Now tab to make your donation.
Donate Now donations can come from anyone with a PayPal account, and are not connected to a specific eBay listing. Thanks for your support!

5 January 2015: Thank you to our newest "Advocate", the Eva K. Packard Trust, for its continued contribution to the Detroit College Promise. Thanks also to our newest "Believer", Melanie Myers, and existing "Believers", Dr. David Lucas and Anonymous, for their continued support.

30 December 2014: Thank you to an Anonymous "Believer" for his continued contribution to the Detroit College Promise. Thank you to our newest "Believers", The Sylvia Pevin & George Pevin Foundation and The Irving & Ethel Palman Foundation, for choosing to support The Detroit College Promise.

23 December 2014: Thank you to "Believer", Steven Tarnowsky, for his continued contribution to the Detroit College Promise. Also thank you to our newest "Believer", Sharon Spilkin, for her contribution as well.

12 December 2014: Thank you to our newest "Believers", Ken & Amy Colton and Herbert Kaufman for their contributions to the Detroit College Promise.

9 December 2014: Thank you to our "Visionary", Anne Pernick, for her additional contribution and thanks to our newest "Believer", Steven Rowe, for his contribution to the Detroit College Promise.

8 December 2014: Holiday shopping done? Do you shop at Amazon.com? Use this link, and Amazon.com will contribute 4-5% of your purchases to The Detroit College Promise, without costing you anything.

8 December 2014: Thank you to our newest Believer, Les Siegel, for his generous contribution to Detroit College Promise.

5 December 2014: Thank you to our newest Believer, Jane Solomon, for her generous contribution to Detroit College Promise.

2 December 2014: Thank you to Believer, Myzell Sowell Jr., for his generous contribution in memory of Myzell and Robin H. Sowell.

24 November 2014: Thanks to our newest "Supporter", Ben N Teitel Philanthropic Fund, for their generous contribution to the Detroit College Promise.

17 November 2014: Thanks to our newest "Advocate", The Greg K. Monroe Foundation, for their generous contribution to the Detroit College Promise.

7 November 2014: Thanks to Believer, Dr. Ihab Hosny, for his additional monthly contributions to Detroit College Promise. The holidays are coming! You can help support Detroit College Promise when you shop online. Download our Goodsearch toolbar, and fund scholarships every time you do a search, here. Use the GoodShop link to fund scholarships when you buy online (enter Detroit College Promise as the charity you support), here. DCP will receive a percentage of your purchase that will directly go to scholarships for the DPS students.

3 November 2014: Thanks to Michael and Sandy Hermanoff, our newest "Advocates", for their very generous contribution to Detroit College Promise. Also, Thank you to Believer, Dr. Joseph Sailors, for his generous contribution.

30 October 2014: Thanks to The Robert and Bess Cook Foundation and The Harold and Marion Gordon Family Foundation, both "Visionaries", for their additional very generous contributions to Detroit College Promise.

27 October 2014: Thanks to Peter and Martha Blom, two of our "Advocates" for their very generous contribution in the form of shares of stock. It is very easy to donate stock to The Detroit College Promise - your broker can do it automatically. Contact Dr. Pernick at 248/646-3269 for details.

21 October 2014: Thanks to our newest Believer, Mike Pasick, for his recent contribution to Detroit College Promise.

26 September 2014: Thanks to our newest Believer, James Deutchman, for his recent contribution to Detroit College Promise.

16 September 2014: Thanks to the Kroger Community Rewards program for continuing to support the Detroit College Promise when our supporters use their Kroger Plus card. We encourage all DCP supporters to participate in this great, easy way to raise money for our program. Find out more information by clicking here.

We are excited to be part of an online fundraising challenge for RiseDetroit. The challenge runs from September 15th-October 30th and will be helping to kick off our Annual Drive. This challenge is only for non-profits and the organization that raises the most will win an extra $50,000. Please visit our Fundraising Page by clicking here to donate and help spread the word!

23 July 2014: Congratulations to our 53 DCP Scholars for the 2014-15 college year. More information will be posted soon on our Home Page, and in our next newsletter.

We have eliminated the requirement for registration by December of the 9th grade year, beginning with the class of 2018 (current 9th grade students). This will lessen the work of the dedicated DPS staff who were handling much of the registration responsibilities. It will also eliminate the problem, beginning with the class of 2018, of DPS graduates who were not eligible for the scholarship because they neglected to register. It also minimizes any problems with the security alert (see below). In its place, we will have optional programming for 9th grade students to inform them about the program and get them more excited about their educational future.

22 July 2014: We were recently advised of a possible security issue affecting registration data. This includes student names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and dates of birth. Apparently, a search engine was somehow able to get beyond our password protection and pull data from this file. We were alerted to this by a third party. We have no evidence that anyone actually used this information for any purpose, but want to let people know. To correct the problem, we disabled the relevant links, and, as indicated above, have now eliminated registration. As a result, we no longer have an online database.

27 June 2014: Thanks to Chris Robbins, our newest Believer, for his contribution through the Pay Pal Giving Fund.

16 June 2014: Thanks to A. Pernick, one of our "Visionaries", for her generous additional contribution to our annual drive. Thanks also to the Kroger Community Rewards program for continuing to support the Detroit College Promise when our supporters use their Kroger Plus card. We encourage all DCP supporters to participate in this great, easy way to raise money for our program. Find out more information here.

9 June 2014: Thanks to the Harold and Marion Gordon Family Foundation for their generous contribution at the "Supporters" level.

8 June 2014: Thanks to the Robert & Bess Cook Foundation for their generous additional contribution for scholarships for Cass Technical High School graduates, which puts them in the "Visionaries" category.

24 March 2014: Thanks to Quicken Loans for their new donation, which puts them in the "Advocates" category.

We have updated the Scholarship Acceptance form, in the section on Extent of Benefits by adding this paragraph:

Note: the award is based on the funds that The Detroit College Promise has raised, and the number of graduates from any year who claim a scholarship for the new college academic year. Although students have 10 years to use their award, if funds are limited, students who graduated from a prior year may get less than the amounts indicated below.

This section was added to notify students that they are not guaranteed to get the same award as others previously received for their graduating year if we don't have the money available at the time. This has never happened, and we hope it never will, but our financial advisors wanted us to avoid the possibility of financial problems if a large number of graduates from prior years claimed their scholarship at the same time.

19 March 2014: Thanks to Gregg Orley, our newest "Believer", for his generous contribution to support scholarships for students at Cass Tech, his alma mater.

4 February 2014: We have added the college email address to the Scholarship Acceptance form, since this is the email that most college students will use.

30 January 2014: Thanks to Dr. Massood Siddiqui, our newest "Believer", for his continued support. We mourn the passing of one of our long time supporters, retired Michigan Supreme Court Justice Patricia Boyle.

3 January 2014: Thanks to our newest "Believer" for her continued support: P. Boyle. Thanks also to a prior Believer for an additional generous contribution.

29 November 2013: Thanks to A. Pernick, one of our "Visionaries", for her generous additional contribution to our annual drive. Thanks to Dr. Paul Goodman, our newest "Believer", for his continued support.

15 November 2013: Thanks to Sandy & Michael Hermanoff and the Hermelin Family Support Foundation, prior "Believers", for their very generous contributions to our annual drive. This year we hope to raise $100,000 for scholarships, so we can expand our award. We list all contributors, unless they want to be anonymous, on our Donors page.

24 September 2013: For members of the classes of 2009-2016 - please send updates directly by email to DetroitCollegePromise@gmail.com, instead of trying to update your profile online. Thanks.

17 September 2013: Thanks to Peter and Martha Blom, two of our "Believers" for their very generous contribution in the form of shares of stock. It is very easy to donate stock to The Detroit College Promise - your broker can do it automatically. Contact Dr. Pernick at 248/646-3269 for details.

30 July 2013: Please join us on Arise Detroit's Neighborhoods Day, Saturday August 3 from noon to 2:00 pm at Greater Burnette Baptist Church, 16801 Schoolcraft. This Community Feast will feature a Car Show, Food, Music and Giveaways. We will be signing up students and giving away prizes.

30 July 2013: Congratulations 2013 DCP Scholars! For the class of 2013, we are pleased to be increasing the maximum award to $600 and the minimum award to $150. Click here for their names, and here for a summary of totals by college / university and high school.

9 July 2013: The Detroit City Council honored DCP Scholars with the Spirit of Detroit Award. Click here for the press release.

20 June 2013: We mourn the untimely loss of Dr. Eric Arons, a DCP 'Believer', and we send our warmest condolences to his family.

20 June 2013: Dr. Nat Pernick appeared on "Let's Talk", on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at 6:00 to 6:30pm on 1440am WDRJ. The show is hosted by Valerie Parker, and is
an informative program targeting the youth and community in Detroit. Click here to listen to the program.

18 June 2013: NBC News had a short feature about the Kalamazoo Promise, the model for The Detroit College Promise. To view, click here or see below:

11 June 2013: Thanks to the Kroger Community Rewards program for continuing to support the Detroit College Promise when our supporters use their Kroger Plus card. We encourage all DCP supporters to participate in this great, easy way to raise money for our program. Find out more information here.

11 June 2013: Thanks to the Robert & Bess Cook Foundation for their very generous contribution for scholarships for Cass Technical High School graduates. They are a "Supporter" (cumulative contribution of $5,000 or more) and are listed on our Donors page.

6 June 2013: Listen to Dr. Nat Pernick on "Let's Talk", on Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at 6:00 to 6:30pm on 1440am WDRJ. The show is hosted by Valerie Parker, and is
an informative program targeting the youth and community in Detroit.

5 June 2013: Thanks to the DTE Energy Foundation for being a Believer (cumulative contribution of $500 or more) for our Leaders Who Care event with Cranbrook Horizons-Upward Bound. View our Donors page here.

28 May 2013: Dr. Pernick was a guest on Rev. Horace Sheffield's Radio Show, On The Line (WCHB AM 1200, 99.9 FM), on May 25, 2013, cohosted by State Senator Vincent Gregory, to give an update on our activities.

16 May 2013: We have started posting images on our Home Page of the 2013 DCP scholars. We want to post your picture, but to do so, you have to send us your completed paperwork by July 1, and also send us a digital photo of yourself. We will crop it, if necessary, to a "head shot".

10 May 2013: We all know not to open attachments from strangers, but we also have to be careful opening them from friends. I did so, and triggered some malware, which sent the email to my entire contact list, then erased my email folders. If you get an attachment VIEW IMPORTANT DOCUMENT, or really any attachment that raises ANY questions in your mind, DON'T OPEN IT. I'm sorry for any problems this created.

24 April 2013: Thanks to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy for writing a Letter of Encouragement for our 9th grade scholars (click here to read).

16 April 2013: Thanks to the Detroit Public Schools Foundation for inviting Nat Pernick to write a guest blog about the important role of the public in Detroit's education - link.

15 April 2013: Thanks to Kenwal Steel for being a Supporter (cumulative contribution of $5,000 or more) for our Leaders Who Care event with Cranbrook Horizons-Upward Bound. View our Donors page here.

27 March 2013: We updated our Scholarship application with the eligibility requirements:Scholarship requirements: from December 1 of grade 9 through graduation, you must (a) be registered, (b) live in
Detroit, (c) attend a DPS school. However, we urge all K-9 students to register if they might be eligible.

21 March 2013: Thanks to Councilwoman Brenda Jones for writing a letter of support endorsing the Detroit College Promise. Click here to view.

12 March 2013: Click here (pdf) to view an article from the Detroit Jewish News about the conversation with Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rabbi Daniel Syme and the Detroit College Promise's vision to impact Detroit.

18 February 2013: Click here or
here (pdf) to view an article about the conversation with Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rabbi Daniel Syme on the "Re-education of America in the Age of Obama."

18 February 2013: Thanks to all who attended or supported our Historic Conversation on February 12. Click here to see the pictures on our Facebook page.

12 February 2013: Click here (pdf) to view an article from the Detroit Jewish News about the Detroit College Promise's vision to impact Detroit.

12 February 2013: Thanks to the following Believers (cumulative contribution of $500 or more) for their recent contributions:

28 January 2013: Thanks to Quicken Loans for sponsoring our Historical Conversation on February 12. Other sponsors include the Detroit Historical Museum. Click here for more information.

28 January 2013: Click here to view the recent video of Dr. Pernick on the Brenda Perryman show.

23 January 2013: Click here to learn more about the Historical Conversation with Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rabbi Daniel Syme: Re-education of America in the Age of Obama, on February 12, 2013 at the Detroit Historical Museum, moderated by Bankole Thompson, The Michigan Chronicle. Tickets are $25, and the VIP reception before the event costs $250.

23 January 2013: Check out our new YouTube videos on the DetroitCollegeProm channel:

The John Prost Show - Grosse Point Cable, August 2012

Street Beat - CBS, January 2013

10 January 2013: Thanks to the following Believers (cumulative contribution of $500 or more) for their recent contributions to our Annual Drive:

Peter and Martha Blom

Al-Azhar Pacha

Norm and Paula Pernick,

POS Systems Group

24 December 2012: Thanks to the following for their recent contributions to our Annual Drive (donor levels are based on cumulative contributions):

19 December 2012: Thanks to the following for their recent contributions to our Annual Drive:

Eric Arons, Believer ($500 or more)

Elsa and Jack Shartsis, Believer ($500 or more)

To contribute to our Annual Drive and be eligible for a 2012 tax deduction, click here. As always, every penny contributed is redirected to a Michigan public college or university to be used as a scholarship, and motivate our students to make education a priority.

17 December 2012: Tom Watkins, former Superintendent of Schools, State of Michigan, wrote a great article about the importance of teachers, click here

11 December 2012: Thanks to the following for their contributions to our Annual Drive:

To contribute to our Annual Drive, click here. Every penny contributed is used for scholarships to motivate our students to make education a priority (sponsors pay 100% of our overhead, including credit card fees).

19 November 2012: Recent articles about us include "Detroit College Promise helps DPS students realize college dreams" by The Detroit Regional News Hub, click here and "Rust Belt Cities Combat Education Flight with a College Promise, click here. The virtues of the Kalamazoo Promise were discussed at MLive.com, click here.

16 November 2012: We continue to register 9th grade DPS students before the December 1 deadline. Click here for an article about this effort from TellUsDetroit.com.

13 November 2012: Click here for an updated list of Detroit College Promise recipients for college years beginning 2009 to 2012.

9 November 2012: Dr. Pernick was interviewed by Lyndia Grant to talk about scholarships for her radio show, "Think on these things" (AM 1340, Washington, D.C.)

19 September 2012: We have updated our Scholarship Recipients page (click here), which lists the name, high school and college of all DCP scholars from 2009 to date.

15 September 2012: Please click on the Status link in the lower right corner of our Home Page (or click here) to check the status of payments for The Detroit College Promise or The Detroit Housing Commission Scholarships. State colleges and universities know which students were awarded scholarships, but we cannot send them a check until their drop/add deadline has passed, and the college or university has verified that each student is full time (12 credits or more). More details are on the Status page.

19 August 2012: Thanks to all who contributed to the recent challenge match which ended 31 July 2012. We raised $5,400 and received a 50% match of $2,700 from our anonymous challenge donor.

17 August 2012: We have added photos of our 2012 DCP scholars to our Home Page (the images rotate when the page is reloaded). We are happy to add new or revised photos of graduates on this list - send them to NatPernick@hotmail.com and we will get them added to the rotation.

30 July 2012: We have updated the scholarship acceptance form for 2013, click here. There are a few changes - we now require a copy of your drivers license or state identification card. To make the transcript easier to obtain, you can either give us the complete transcript, or the transcript after the first term of grade 12 plus a copy of your diploma after you graduate. The deadline is July 1, 2013, so we strongly suggest that students start the process in January 2013. Unfortunately, there will be no extensions.

28 July 2012:Attention students in foster care: Information about college related programs can be found by clicking here. For more information, contact Maddy Day, MSW at the telephone / email address on the first page.

20 July 2012: We are pleased to announce the scholarship awards for the class of 2012 are $550 for the "maximum" award, and $110 for the "book" award. Graduates receive the book award if all of their tuition is paid by FAFSA related grants or the TIP program. These awards are for one semester only, and graduates receive only one of the awards. Click here for a list of awardees for the 2012-13 college year, sorted by name, and here for totals by college/university and DPS high school.

10 July 2012: Our challenge grant has been extended to July 31, 2012. For every donation received by this date, we will receive an additional 50% match, up to the first $20,000. To date, we have raised $4,400. Click here to donate today.

22 June 2012: Thanks to Diane Byrd-Johnson, Manager, Government Programs Outreach, Omnicare Health Plan for donating drawstring totes, T shirts, alarm clocks, change purses, seat covers and plastic containers for the gift packages for our scholarship recipients this year. If you have items to donate, useful for new college students, please call us at 248/646-3269.

14 June 2012: We held a pizza party for the students at Duke Ellington school to honor the staff and students for 100% enrollment in the Detroit College Promise. Click here for the article on the DPS website, here for our Facebook page with the pictures, and here for the press release.

13 June 2012: We have been offered a challenge grant of $10,000 by an anonymous donor if we receive $20,000 in donations by July 15, 2012. Every dollar of these donations will be sent to a Michigan public college or university on behalf of our students, towards scholarships for the 2012-13 college year. Click here to contribute.

To see the list of scholarship recipients from 2009 to 2011, please click here.

23 May 2012: Thanks to Ann Alpern, M.D., one of our "Supporters", for her generous contribution for the class of 2012. Thanks also to Regina Brodersen and the Robert & Bess Cook Foundation for their very generous contribution for scholarships for Cass Technical High School graduates, which elevates them to the "Supporters" class of donors.

23 May 2012: Thanks to A. Pernick, one our "Visionaries" for her additional contribution. Thanks to the following "Believers", for their generous contributions that will help us fund scholarships for our class of 2012:

21 May 2012: Dr. Nat Pernick, Executive Director of The Detroit College Promise, participated in a post-play discussion this past Saturday, May 19, 2012 for Palmer Park, a play about the University District of Detroit and Hampton School during 1968-1972.

3 May 2012: Listen to Dr. Pernick's interview on Dr. John Telford's radio show from March 25 on WEXL 1340, by clicking here (WAV file).

2 May 2012: On April 20, 2012, Dr. Pernick was recognized as a “Trailblazer for Transformation” and awarded the Presidential Award at the Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance Fundraiser. The event was held to help raise money for the Cody Rouge Summer Youth Internship Program.

30 April 2012: Congratulations to our new Board members: Elizabeth Chilton, Fundraising Professional; Sandra M. Hermanoff, President, Hermanoff Public Relations; and Karen P. Ridgeway, Superintendent of Academics, Detroit Public Schools. Thanks to David Sabbath for his excellent service as Board member during our first 3 years.

7 March 2012: Are you looking for an Internship, or is your business looking for an Intern? If so, please click here to access our Intern in Michigan portal. This is not only a great way to help individuals, businesses and non-profits, but this program makes Michigan a more attractive for young people. We ourselves have hired an Intern through this program, and it is easy to use.

2 March 2012: AHEC-MI (Michigan Area Health Education Center), in partnership with The Detroit College Promise and Wayne County Community College District, will host its first annual College and Health Careers Expo on Saturday, March 17, 2012, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The event will take place at Wayne County Community College District's Northwest Campus, 8200 West Outer Drive (at Southfield Road) in Detroit.

The College and Health Careers Expo is open to students in grades 9-12 and their parents. Participants will obtain information about a variety of careers in the growing health care industry. Recruiters and representatives from several Michigan colleges and universities will be present to provide tips, tools, and resources related to college admissions as well as scholarships and financial aid.
The event is free. Lunch will be served. For more information, contact Mia Puryear at (313) 871-3751 or sercahec@wayne.edu. Click here to register.

24 February 2012: The Detroit College Promise is pleased to be administering a new scholarship for the Detroit Housing Commission and the Detroit "I'm a Believer" Campaign. The amount of the scholarship will be announced in July 2012. Students can get both the Detroit College Promise and the Detroit Housing Commission scholarships, if eligible, but they must register separately and complete paperwork for each scholarship.

10 February 2012: Thanks to Debra Brown, Logovision for donating various t-shirts, polo shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, notebooks, and backpacks to give to our students attending college this fall, as part of our gift package. Other sponsors are listed here.

24 January 2012: Thanks to Tom Watkins, former Superintendent of Schools, State of Michigan, and David E. Nathan, State Representative, 11th District, for endorsing our program.

24 January 2012: We have now had the first meeting of The Detroit Education Network, formed to foster collaboration between organizations supporting public K-12 education in Detroit. We meet quarterly to update each other on current activities. Information on member organizations is at http://www.detroiteducationnetwork.org.

20 December 2011: The New York Times recently posted an interesting article, What is College For?, link.

13 December 2011: Dr. Pernick appeared on Steve Hood's TV show, "Detroit Wants 2 Know" on WADL-TV38 on December 7. Click here for the link.

28 November 2011: Greg Bowman of WWJ / CBS radio did an interview with Dr. Pernick about registering 9th grade students - link, PDF

27 November 2011: One of our partners, the Michigan Area Health Education Center, posted some pictures from last summer's Detroit College Promise scholars reception at Renaissance High School, click here. Their goals are to (a) introduce students, K–16, to health care professions and provide a pathway to enter the field; (b) increase clinical placements of health care career students in underserved areas; and (c) provide workforce development opportunities for medical professionals in urban and rural settings, medically underserved populations, and health professional shortage areas in Michigan. Click here for more details.

20 November 2011: Thomas Friedman of the New York Times wrote an opinion piece on the importance of parents in their childrens' education, click here.

16 November 2011: Only 2 weeks left for ninth grade students in DPS to register! (K-8 students can register at any time). Click here for the article at TellUsDetroit.com

2 November 2011: Listen to the November 1 taping of Dr. Pernick on Tony Trupiano's Show, AM 1310 (WDTW), by clicking here.

1 November 2011: Thanks to American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. and The Habitat Company of MI, LLC for their very generous contributions to fund scholarships for students living in Detroit Housing Commission properties, as part of the "100 Leaders who Cook" program on November 12 that we are part of. For more information on this great program and to register, click here.

27 October 2011: Dr. Pernick authored an op-ed on the importance of parental involvement, which recently appeared in the Detroit Free Press, link, PDF. Let us know what you think.

Paying for college is one of the most important, as well as most cumbersome aspects of a student's life. I lost a lot of hair during my final year of high school, but one of the things that kept me going was knowing I would receive a scholarship from The Detroit College Promise. This scholarship will come in handy during my first year of college at Central Michigan University this fall, and it will no doubt continue to support the hard working students in Detroit. I am so proud to be one of the first students to receive this scholarship, and being given the chance to witness its growth.

As a student, I hear the word "scholarships" more than any other vocabulary word, but what sets the Detroit College Promise Scholarship apart from the rest is the ambition of the program. The monthly newsletters have always been informational and optimistic; they keep everyone up to date on the program, telling how many students are enrolled, and they show how the program is growing and will continue to grow. I support this program and its efforts because it is working hard to support students who work hard and deserve to go to college. No
matter the cost of tuition in the future, I know The Detroit College Promise Scholarship Program will help DPS students overcome any financial adversity and help give them the future they deserve.

Thank you so much for pioneering this program, and helping me and so many other students!

11 October 2011: The Detroit News published an article about our efforts to register 9th grade students, click here.

5 October 2011: Click here for a list of the 159 DCP Scholars for the 2011-2012 college year.

26 September 2011: Thanks to OpTech for their generous contribution to fund our scholarships for the class of 2012.

25 September 2011: An article in the October 2010 issue of Postsecondary Education OPPORTUNITY discusses some good news in Michigan for low income families:

Between FY 1999 and FY 2009 the college participation rate increased by 11.4 percentage points, from 28.1 to 39.5 percent. The current rate is the highest on record for Michigan. The surge has been especially pronounced since FY 2001 when it was just 22.7 percent. Over the last decade the number students in fourth to ninth grades has increased by 12.6 percent, the number of these who were from lower income families has increased by 34.3 percent, and the number enrolling in college with Pell Grants has increased by 88.8 percent.

Thanks to Ron Wilson of Eduguide for sending us the article. Visit Eduguide.org for helpful information in preparing for college.

20 September 2011: Thanks to Regina Brodersen of the Robert & Bess Cook Foundation for their very generous contribution that will fund scholarships for Cass Tech graduates attending Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.

19 September 2011: Thanks to Peter and Martha Blom, two of our "Believers", for their generous contribution that will help us fund our class of 2012.

17 September 2011: We appeared on Reverend Horace Sheffield's radio show on WGPR.

13 September 2011: The Detroit News published an article about our program, click PDF.

We have posted versions of the Scholarship Application and Register Now forms in Spanish and Arabic on our Links page under Flyers.

11 September 2011: Michigan Radio broadcast a segment about our program (no audio available), and posted the text on its website - text, PDF

24 August 2011: We are looking for volunteers (students, parents, teachers, other staff, community members) to spend 30-60 minutes every 1-2 weeks at a DPS K-12 school. We would like someone familiar with the school to collect and pass out applications, answer questions and act as our school representative. Call us at 248/646-3269 or email DetroitCollegePromise@gmail.com if interested.

23 August 2011: Today, Dr. Pernick taped a program with the TCT Television Network, scheduled to appear on September 9 at 5:30 am and September 10 at 2:30 pm on Comcast 399 or Non Cable channel 18.1. We'll post a link when available.

22 August 2011: The Detroit Free Press published a great article about our program on Sunday, 14 August 2011. Click here for the PDF.

11 August 2011: Thanks to the Ben Teitel Trust and to A. Pernick for additional generous contributions, which have allowed us to expand our scholarships for this year. To date, we have 129 students receiving awards for the 2011-2012 college year.

9 August 2011: We are pleased to be partnering with the Metro Area Health Education Center (AHEC) and Wayne State University to promote health education careers for our students. We look forward to working with other groups to expose our students to their professions, so students know more about possible careers available to them.

21 July 2011: We regret any confusion that Governor Snyder has created in discussing a program similar to the Detroit College Promise for Detroit. We are always willing to discuss collaboration with others, but to date, we have no relationship with his possible program. We are the largest private scholarship program in Michigan, and one of the largest in the country. We have expanded our program since we started with the Cody class of 2009, and the class of 2012 will be the fourth class to receive scholarships from us. We are privately funded, without raiding the State's school aid fund, as his program may attempt to do. We have written to him, and hope he will stop using the names Detroit College Promise or Detroit Promise, which are registered to us.

8 July 2011: Thanks to IHC, Inc., one of our "Believers", for another generous contribution, which will be used for scholarships for the class of 2011.

7 July 2011: Dr. Pernick stated: "I think most of us believe in encouraging students to do well, and that making misleading or false statements that can discourage students is counterproductive. For that reason, I am particularly troubled by Governor Snyder's continued statements that only 16% of Michigan’s high school graduates are college ready. This statistic, although from the prestigious College Board, is simply not accurate, and Governor Snyder should not be citing it." See White Paper by Ernest A. Bauer, Ph.D. , Oakland Schools. Let us know what you think on our Facebook page or by emailing us.

29 June 2011: Thanks to Lora Weingarden and Mike Pasick, two of our "Believers", for another generous contribution, which will be used to increase the scholarship amount for the class of 2011.

24 June 2011: Thanks to GCC Servicing Systems, Inc., one of our "Believers", for another generous contribution, which will help us increase the amount of the scholarship award for this year's recipients, and will inspire the tens of thousands of future DPS graduates to be the best students they can be.

24 June 2011: Thanks to Diane Byrd-Johnson, Manager, Government Programs Outreach, Omnicare Health Plan for donating 300 gift packages to give to our students attending college this fall, as part of our gift package. Thanks also to Sandra Tomlin, Vice President, Community Relations, Michigan First Credit Union, for donating 300 whistle/flashlight key chains and pens as part of our gift package. Other sponsors are listed on our Sponsors page. To date, 82 students have completed the simple paperwork to receive these gift packages.

7 June 2011: Thanks to Kenneth DeVitto, TRiO Educational Opportunity Center, Wayne State University, for donating bookmark rulers with popup tape flags, to give to our graduating seniors attending college next fall, as part of our gift package. To date, 63 students have completed the simple paperwork to receive these gift packages and an invitation to our pizza party, and those that attend Michigan public colleges or universities full time will also receive scholarship dollars. We project that we will provide the gift packages / scholarships to over 300 students this fall.

31 May 2011: Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Edward Klarman for another generous contribution. These contributions are particularly important this year, as our program expands to a projected 300-500 scholarship recipients from the class of 2011. We want to give them as much money as possible, both to reward them for their hard work and make college more possible, and to inspire the thousands of students in our program to make education a high priority.

21 April 2011: Nicholas Aggor, former engineer and now publisher of Math textbooks at http://www.MathTeachingSeries.com has written a short article, "The Importance of a Homework Schedule", click here.

28 March 2011: We have posted a recent segment from the Bloomfield Township Cable - County Corner show with host Oakland County Commissioner Marcia Gershenson and guests Dr. Nat Pernick and Johnathon Matthews (Principal, Cody APL High School) - link.

26 March 2011: In response to a Detroit Free Press editorial (click PDF), Dr. Pernick wrote a Letter to the Editor, published at PDF.

22 March 2011: Thanks to the Detroit Lions for donating official NFL pens and pencils to give to our graduating seniors attending college next fall, as part of our gift package.

15 March 2011: We are pleased to be working with the Detroit Parent Network, by speaking at their DPN parent resource centers, and publicizing their activities. They will help publicize our programs and register K-8 students in DPS. To get on their mailing list, email KColeman@detroitparentnetwork.org.

15 March 2011: Thanks to Congressman John Conyers Jr. for writing a Letter of Support on our behalf (click here).

14 March 2011: Thanks to G. Pinnamaneni for her contribution in the Believers category.

22 February 2011: Thanks to The Detroit Board of Education for endorsing our program. Click here for their endorsement letter.

21 February 2011: Congratulations to Richard Cooper, President, MBA Consultants, LLC, for being elected to our Board. Thanks to Brooke Franklin for serving on our Board for our first two years, and for helping us network with other Detroiters.

9 February 2011: According to U.S. Census estimates, during 2005-2009, Kalamazoo was one of the few areas in the state to increase population, with a 12.5% increase in the number of residents in the Kalamazoo Public Schools district. The Kalamazoo Promise was given much of the credit by a senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute. Click here for the article. Help support The Detroit College Promise to help Detroit's population grow also.

7 February 2011: Thanks to the Detroit Kiwanis Club #1 for the successful fundraiser they held for us yesterday at The Detroit Repertory Theatre. We encourage everyone to attend the meetings of the Detroit Kiwanis Club, held the first and third Tuesday every month at the
Detroit Athletic Club on Madison in downtown Detroit. Contact Jim Heymes at 517/349-7589 or jheymes@earthlink.net or Jeanette Harris at 248/752-7147 for more information.

4 February 2011: To keep up to date on various Promise programs in the US, email Promiseupdates@gmail.com. Some recent articles include:

3 February 2011: Thanks to Wayne State University for donating hundreds of WSU T shirts for our 9th grade students and graduating seniors.

2 February 2011: Thanks to Gabe Leland, Former Member, Michigan House of Representatives, District 10 (Detroit), for agreeing to serve on our advisory board.

30 January 2011: We added a few items to our "How Can I Help" list, on our Home Page. They are:

Adopt a school by participating in its PTA/LSCO, even if your children don't attend that school now. We believe that any school can be improved substantially if just 25 people are actively involved in its PTA/LSCO. Contact us for more information.

14 December 2010: Thanks to Michelle Rhodes, Director of Financial Aid for Grand Valley State University, for agreeing to serve on our advisory board.

6 December 2010: If you are interested in receiving media releases about the "good news" from DPS, please email steven.wasko@detroitk12.org, and put "send me DPS media releases" in the subject line.

29 November 2010: Several months ago, we participated in the screening of the movie, Heart of Stone, and heard from its producer Beth Toni Kruvant. This movie was about Weequahic High School in Newark, NJ, once a top school, but now suffering many of the problems of other urban schools. The movie described the efforts of its dynamic principal to turn around the school, and efforts by its alumni association to provide scholarships and other assistance to its students, similar to The Detroit College Promise. For more information about the movie, please visit http://www.heartofstonethemovie.com.

28 November 2010: We have now posted the names of our 6 scholarship recipients from the Class of 2009 at Cody High School (click here). The names of the scholarship recipients from the Class of 2010 will be posted within a few weeks.

25 November 2010: Fox 2 News aired a great video about The Detroit College Promise, and is showing it throughout the holiday weekend (click here to view and here to read about it). Thanks to Katie Fehr and her colleagues at Fox 2 News for putting this together.

24 November 2010: Thanks to Lora Weingarden and Mike Pasick for their additional contribution, which puts them in the Believers category.

17 November 2010: Thanks to Siriani & Associates for their contribution, which puts them in the Believers category.

15 November 2010: We issued a Media Release (click here) announcing that we have now registered 10,000 students.

We added a new scholarship to our Detroit Scholarships page from The New Metropolitan Detroit Club of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Club (see #16).

12 November 2010: Visit our EBay Giving Works page, and learn how to support The Detroit College Promise by purchasing from sellers who donate part of their proceeds to us, or by becoming one of those sellers (click here).

8 November 2010: Thanks to the Ben N. Teitel Philanthropic Fund for an additional generous contribution in memory of Oscar Cook.

6 November 2010: The Detroit News published an article about our program and the Detroit Compact, PDF

4 November 2010: Thanks to WMXD-FM Radio (Mix 92.3 Detroit) for running a Public Service Announcement on their station about our program.

2 November 2010: Thanks to Mary Nehls-Frumkin and Jeff Frumkin for their contribution, which puts them in the Believers category.

1 November 2010: Thanks to Monica Johnson and Steven Wasko of Detroit Public Schools, and Karen O'Keefe of Office Depot, for their generous donation of notebooks, rulers and other office supplies, to be part of the gift package given to our Detroit College Promise graduates entering college.

26 October 2010: Thanks to IHC, Inc. for another generous contribution to support our students. We challenge other auto related businesses to become "believers" with a contribution of $500 or more.

19 October 2010: We now have versions of our application and Enroll in DPS, Get a Scholarship flyer in Arabic, as well as Spanish.

14 September 2010: Do you shop at Amazon.com? Use this link to visit Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/?tag=thedetcolpro-20, and Amazon.com will contribute 4-5% of your purchases to The Detroit College Promise, without costing you anything.

11 September 2010: Thanks to Frank Nemecek for writing about President Obama's Letter of Encouragement for our students in his Warrendale (Detroit) blog - link

10 September 2010: Thanks to State Senator Hansen Clarke, candidate for US Congress, 13th District, for endorsing our program. Thanks also to Rocky Raczkowski, candidate for US Congress, 9th District, for endorsing our program.

30 August 2010: Thanks to President Obama for writing a Letter of Encouragement for our 9th grade students. Click here to read his inspiring words.

27 August 2010: Come support the Detroit College Promise at the Big House, Big Heart run / walk on October 3, 2010. Participants can walk or wheel in a 10K, 5K, or 1 mile race / event. Fully 100% of fundraising dollars raised by the Detroit College Promise team will be used to provide scholarships to Detroit Public School graduates to attend Michigan public colleges and universities. Click here for more information.

25 August 2010: Look for our billboard on the Lodge Freeway about our "Enroll in DPS - Get a Scholarship" campaign. It is visible going North, on the West (left) side, just south of Henry Ford Hospital / West Grand Blvd.

24 August 2010: We had an interview on WWJ's Making the Grade, with Greg Bowman about our Enroll in DPS - Get a Scholarship campaign - link

22 August 2010: Thanks to the following businesses / organizations who contributed to our gift pack, which we give to all DPS graduates who complete our application process, regardless of what college / university they attend. We plan to expand the gift pack next year.

17 August 2010: We issued Press Release #8 about the expansion of our program to all DPS graduates beginning with the class of 2011.

12 August 2010: Thanks to Garan Lucow Miller P.C., a Detroit law firm, for their contribution, which puts them in the Believers category.

25 July 2010: Thanks to Sherry Gay-Dagnogo for agreeing to serve on our Advisory Board. She is the Education Chair of the National Congress of Black Women, Greater Detroit Chapter.

22 July 2010: Thanks to Austerine Hambrick for agreeing to serve on our Advisory Board. Before she retired, Ms. Hambrick was the Director, Office of Guidance & Counseling, Detroit Public Schools.

19 July 2010: Spread the word among your friends and colleagues about our program. Click here to get a summary of our program, and cut and paste it into emails, Facebook, Twitter or other social media.

18 July 2010: Read the blog about our program from our staffer Liz Parker by clicking here. Our Links page, in the Media section, now lists all known blog articles about us. Let us know of any we are missing.

15 July 2010: We are pleased to be able to award scholarships to all eligible students in the class of 2010 from Cass Tech, Central, Pershing and Trombly (we previously had limited the awards to two students from each school). We will also be awarding $50 book vouchers to students with FAFSA grants paying 100% of tuition (previously we did not award them any money).

14 July 2010: Thanks to PWG Charitable Foundation (Park West Foundation), for its generous donation as part of the Claire Cook Excellence in Leadership Award. This contribution will enable us to expand our scholarships at Central High School for the Class of 2010.

14 July 2010: Thanks to Eli Broad, Founder of KB Home, SunAmerica and the Broad Foundations, for writing a Letter of Encouragement for our 9th grade students (click here).

12 July 2010: Thanks to Governor Jennifer M. Granholm for writing a Letter of Encouragement for our 9th grade students (click here).

4 July 2010: We have now posted a video from WZZM, Channel 13 (Grand Rapids, Michigan), click here, which features Dr. Nat Pernick at the PromiseNet 2010 conference (at 1:06).

2 July 2010: Thanks to Alvina M. Gipson, Assistant Director of Admissions, Western Michigan University, for agreeing to serve on our advisory board.

30 June 2010: We have added a student promise to our application, "I promise to stay in school, be the best student I can be, and when I am successful, to return to DPS to help others." We are also now accepting applications from middle school students beginning in grade 6.

13 June 2010: Thanks to the following additional public officials or university personnel who have written letters of encouragement for our 9 th grade students (click on the links for the letters). For more information on writing a letter, click here.

10 June 2010: We have established deadlines of September 15 for the Fall Term and January 15 for the Winter term for receipt of the scholarship acceptance form and the financial aid letter. We will be unable to make scholarship payments for these terms for students who don't get us the documents by these dates.

9 June 2010: Shop at Kroger and support The Detroit College Promise. Click here for more information.

8 June 2010: Thanks to Uptown Entertainment for a donation of movie tickets for the DPS graduates that are in our scholarship program.

28 May 2010: Thanks to GCC Servicing Systems, Inc. for its generous contribution to our scholarship program. This contribution is helping us expand our program next year to all DPS students.

25 May 2010: We issued a press release about registering 2,300 DPS students to date, link.

19 May 2010: Crain's Detroit Business published an article about our having registered more than 2100 students for our scholarship, link, PDF. A short article also appeared in the 24 May 2010 print edition.

13 May 2010: Thanks to Alberto Retana, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, for writing a Letter of Encouragement to our students, click here

11 May 2010: We will be attending the PromiseNet conference in Kalamazoo next month. This conference provides information to "placed-based" scholarships, like The Detroit College Promise, and helps us share ideas.

9 May 2010: Our scholarship application is now available in Spanish, both here and on our links page. Our flyer, Enroll in DPS - Get a Scholarship, is also available in Spanish, both here and on our links page.

6 May 2010: We now have over 2,000 Detroit Public School students registered for The Detroit College Promise.

5 May 2010: Thanks to Charles Pugh, City of Detroit Council President, and Alma Wheeler Smith, State Representative, for writing Letters of Encouragement for our 9th grade students.

3 May 2010: Thanks to the Detroit Kiwanis Club #1 for donating 500 books to be given to 9th grade DPS students who register for our scholarship.

29 April 2010: The Fun Run scheduled for May 16 has been canceled, for reasons beyond our control. We apologize for any inconvenience.

25 April 2010: The Detroit Free Press wrote about the success of The Kalamazoo Promise. Click here.

24 April 2010: Thanks to Dr. Oscar A. Linares for his generous contribution to our scholarship program. This contribution is helping us expand our program next year to all DPS students.

17 April 2010: Western Michigan University has published a new study on the impact of The Kalamazoo Promise on School Climate (link)

16 April 2010: Our scholarship program was endorsed by Dr. Patricia A. Butler, St. Luke Tabernacle Community Church in Detroit.

14 April 2010: WJR will be showcasing our Letters of Encouragement campaign as part of their Breaking the Cycle feature for the next 2 weeks. Click here for the MP3.

13 April 2010: We added a link to an article, "Why Parents Matter", by Robert Bobb, DPS Emergency Financial Manager, and Sharlonda Buckman, Executive Director, Detroit Parents Network. The link is on our Links page under Parents, or click here.

11 April 2010: We have updated our "Enroll in DPS - Get a Scholarship" flyer to include a reference to the Detroit Compact scholarship offered by the Detroit Regional Chamber. DPS students have a unique opportunity to get two college scholarships. More details are on our Detroit Scholarships page (click here).

18 March 2010: We issued a press release about our campaign for Letters of Encouragement, click here. Crain's Detroit Business published an article about the campaign - link, PDF

17 March 2010: How can I help the Detroit College Promise? Our links page now has a list of suggestions, or click here.

14 March 2010: Thanks to Hayden Denha, Manager of the Farm Fresh Supermarket on 10 Mile and Coolidge in Oak Park, for setting up a supermarket stamp board for The Detroit College Promise. Shop at Farm Fresh, and paste the supermarket stamps you receive at checkout on our board, and Farm Fresh will contribute money to our scholarship program as each board is completed.

10 March 2010: Won't you please take 15 minutes to write a letter of encouragement to a 9th grade Detroit Public School student who is making a commitment to work hard, graduate from high school and go to college? Click here for the background and instructions.

Our program was endorsed by The Detroit Public Schools Foundation.

4 March 2010: Our program was endorsed by Otis Mathis, President of the Detroit Board of Education.

23 February 2010: We have updated our Books pages, by adding the 2010 American Library Association - Best Books for Young Adults winners.

12 February 2010: The Detroit News published a Letter from our Executive Director, click here.

10 February 2010: Our program was endorsed by Charles Pugh, City of Detroit Council President.

4 February 2010: To subscribe / unsubscribe to any of our newsletters, enter your email address on our new Subscribe page (click here). You will then be emailed a link that allows you to change your newsletter preferences or your email address. Our newsletters are for 3 entities - The Detroit College Promise (nonprofit that provides scholarships to Detroit students), PathologyOutlines.com (free online pathology textbook) and DermatologyOutlines.com (free online dermatology textbook).

28 January 2010: We have updated our Links page, which now has links to our Scholarship Application and Scholarship Acceptance forms. We want all 28,000 DPS high school students to register for our scholarship, which will put them on the mailing list for our student newsletter, and help us raise funds for more scholarships. Our goal is to be able to offer scholarships to all DPS graduates within 2 years.

26 January 2010: We are trying to rebuild Detroit's residential population, and have initially targeted the Jewish community, which had a large Detroit population in the 1950's and 60's. Our new website, www.MyJewishDetroit.com, lists existing Jewish institutions within Detroit. We have also started a newsletter that will highlight monthly activities of Detroit based Jewish institutions or events within Detroit. To subscribe to the newsletter, email subscribeMJD@gmail.com.

14 January 2010:Enroll in DPS - get a scholarship! We urge all students interested in receiving our scholarship to enroll in DPS by next fall. Starting with the class of 2011, we will offer at least 2 scholarships at all DPS high schools. Within a few years, we plan to offer scholarships to all DPS graduates. However, to be eligible, you must have been enrolled in DPS (and be a Detroit resident) either from the beginning of next fall thru graduation or from the beginning of 9th grade thru graduation. More details are available in our Business Plan (click here).

4 January 2010: Thanks to Mrs. Eva Kuhn Packard for making a contribution designated for her alma matter of Cooley High School. As a result, we are adding a third scholarship for Cooley for the Class of 2011 and subsequent years.

30 December 2009: We are now receiving contributions designated for scholarships at particular high schools, and have added a spreadsheet to the top of the News page (or click here) which details the number of scholarships offered this year and next at each high school. Ultimately, we plan to offer an unlimited number of scholarships at all DPS high schools, and this chart highlights our progress towards this goal.

22 December 2009: We appeared on WDET's Detroit Today radio show, to discuss our program in the context of incentives to get people to live in Detroit - link.

8 December 2009: We had an interview on WWJ's Making the Grade, with Greg Bowman - link.

We also had an interview in the Detroit Jewish News on 2 December 2009, link

7 December 2009: We have a new option for donors to support additional scholarships at a particular school. We currently offer unlimited scholarships to seniors at Cody-Upper and Douglass, and 2 scholarships each year to seniors at Cass Tech, Central, Pershing and Douglass. Next year, we hope to offer at least 2 scholarships at each of the remaining DPS high schools. Contributions designated for a particular school will be used to increase the number of scholarships at that school. The formula we plan to use is $1500 to fund one additional scholarship. The scholarship is for $500, but since we plan to offer the additional scholarships on an ongoing basis, we need to have funding for 3 years before we add it permanently. You can designate the name of the DPS high school on the check or in an email. For questions, please contact Dr. Pernick at 248/646-3269.

6 December 2009: We have updated the Scholarship Acceptance form (on the Procedures page) to reflect some minor changes in our procedures.

30 November 2009: Thanks to Judge Wade McCree, Wayne County Circuit Court - Criminal Division, for meeting with us and endorsing our program.

18 November 2009: We have posted our November 2009 student newsletter, with information about registration, FAFSA, City Heroes, the ACT and the Reggie McKenzie Foundation.

13 November 2009: We added a link to more resources for African-American based scholarships to the top of our Detroit Scholarships page.

12 November 2009: We have posted our November 2009 newsletter (click here), with information about our annual drive, expansion to new DPS high schools, Fun Run, scholarship presentations and student registration for our scholarship.

11 November 2009: We have launched our first Annual Drive with a goal of $2 million. These funds will allow us to expand from pilot programs at Cody and Douglass High Schools to all high schools within the Detroit Public Schools. We will also broaden our challenge to all DPS students to try harder, study more, and plan for their future. Please click here to donate $5 or whatever you can afford so we can accomplish this goal. Contributions to our 501(c)(3) nonprofit are tax deductible as allowed by law, and are paid directly to Michigan public colleges and universities for tuition expenses for our scholarship recipients.

9 November 2009: Crain's Detroit Business published a short article about our Annual Drive (click here). The press release is here.

8 November 2009: All Detroit Public School students should register for our scholarship by December 1, 2009. Since we are adding scholarships this year and next, students should register even if we don't currently have a scholarship at your school. To register, click on the Student Login button on the right hand side of the Home page. It only takes 1-2 minutes. If you know any DPS students, please remind them to register.

8 November 2009: We have updated our Detroit Scholarships page with information from the Detroit Community Scholarship Initiative and Michigan Department of Treasury. We also have a new section on Foster Care related grants.

7 November 2009: We gave a workshop at the Cody / Rouge Education Leadership Conference.

5 November 2009: We gave a presentation with the Community Scholarship Initiative, which is affiliated with the Detroit Parent Network's Project Graduation, UNCF, Edu-Guide, the Coleman Young Foundation and the Skillman Foundation.

16 October 2009: We now offer $500 scholarships to a limited number of seniors, chosen at random, at Cass Tech, Central, Pershing and Trombly High Schools (two scholarships for each school). We are requesting that all high school students at these and other DPS high school students register online (click here).

15 October 2009: Thanks to all who participated in our Fun Run on the Riverwalk. Pictures from the run are posted on our Facebook Page (click here). The event helped us promote our programs and fund more scholarships.

30 September 2009: We added favorite books of US Senator Debbie Stabenow to our Books page. We hope that highlighting favorite books of elected officials will help promote reading, which will promote our mission of changing the education culture in Detroit.

17 September 2009: We added a link to our Links page, under Parents, for a brochure from the National PTA listing 100 ways to help your child and school succeed (click here)

17 August 2009: Crain's Detroit Business published an article about our program changes for Fall 2009 (click here).

11 August 2009: We added to the Books page a list of books recommended by the American Library Association for young adults.

7 August 2009: We made a presentation to the Kiwanis Detroit #1 Club at the Detroit Athletic Club, Beverly Wiggins, President. They agreed to act as mentors for one of our students, and had several great ideas about working together.

21 July 2009: We have updated our Links page to include information for the various Cody High School programs and Trombly High School.

16 July 2009: We recently met with Frank Nemecek of the Warrendale Community Development Corporation, who posted some information about us on his blog, click here (scroll down to 16 July).

3 July 2009: We were interviewed by Alisa Zee of WYCD, 99.5 FM, Detroit's Country, to be aired Sunday morning, 2 August 2009, or click here for the MP3.

29 June 2009: We are pleased to show increased test scores associated with the start of our program at Cody High School. In 2008, no Cody student had a score of 20 or higher on the ACT. For 2009, which was several months after we announced the start of our program at Cody, there were 11 students scoring 20 or above. According to Cody staff, part of the reason for improved scores was that students felt that had a promising future to work towards. Next year we will be offering prizes to all Cody and Douglass students with a score of 21 or more, and we will be working with the schools in other ways to improve test scores.

24 June 2009: Congratulations to Cody graduate and Detroit College Promise scholarship recipient Destin'e Clark, who was interviewed on Greg Bowman's Making the Grade radio spot. Click here for the MP3.

5 June 2009: We sent out our first email newsletter for DPS high school students (click here).

20 May 2009: Our scholarship program was endorsed by Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson.

13 May 2009: Our press release about the expansion of our scholarship to Frederick Douglass High School was posted on the Detroit Public Schools' website (link expired).

11 May 2009: Crain's Detroit Business published a brief article (click here) about our expansion to Frederick Douglass High School.

7 May 2009: Click here to view at video about The Detroit College Promise compiled by University of Detroit Mercy students Diamond Jenkins, Robin Underwood, Patrick Robinson and Erik Howard.

1 May 2009:Volunteers needed! We are expanding parts of our scholarship program to all DPS high school students in September 2009. However, we need volunteers (parents, staff, others) to help spread the word to students. Contact us at 248/646-3269 or email volunteerDCP@gmail.com to sign up or for more information.

25 April 2009: The April 20-26 weekly issue of the Arise Detroit Newsletter announced the expansion of our program:

The Detroit College Promise announces the expansion of its scholarship program in the fall to Frederick Douglass High School. All students that enroll in the first week of the 2009-2010 school year and stay enrolled through graduation will be eligible. The program is currently in place at Cody High School, and new 9th grade students next year will also be eligible. We encourage parents to consider enrolling their children in these schools. For more information, visit www.DetroitCollegePromise.org or call us at 248/646-3269.

20 April 2009: We are expanding our program to the Frederick Douglass High School, and sent out a news release today (click here). Next year, we anticipate having 500 students in our program from Cody and Douglass. Do you want to keep up with the latest DCP news? Follow us on www.Twitter.com, user name DetroitCollege. If you use Facebook, please search for Detroit College Promise, and sign up for our group, which will contain pictures of events and discussion topics.

30 March 2009: Our scholarship program is expanding. For the Fall, 2009 academic year, we will have 138 possible scholarship recipients. They are all eligible for funding if they attend a Michigan public college or university as a full time student, and FAFSA related financial aid does not pay for their tuition in full. For the Fall, 2010 academic year, we anticipate having approximately 450 possible scholarship recipients, based on the projected number of seniors in the Cody class of 2010 and in another DPS high school, to be selected in the next few months.

1 March 2009: We attended "A Celebration of Black History" by the Detroit Urban League Guild and College Club. We will be urging students at our high schools to participate in the College Club, which meets once a month and helps students prepare for college.

24 February 2009: The IRS has granted us 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. A copy of our tax exempt letter is available by clicking here. We currently have 130 applications from graduating seniors at Cody High School.

5 February 2009: The IRS found two minor issues with our tax exempt application. We have addressed them, and hope to receive our tax exempt status letter soon. We will then start applying for grants, and will add an online contribution feature to our website.

We are developing an online scholarship application, which will make the process easier for us as we expand our scholarships to additional schools. It will also enable students to update their information as needed.

We met with Belinda Raines, principal at Northwestern High School in Detroit, who wants our scholarship program at her school in Fall, 2009. We estimate we will need to raise $2500 per graduating senior to start the program. This will allow us to operate the program for 2 years, and to pay $1000 per scholarship recipient, if needed, after application of FAFSA related grants.

3 February 2009: We have updated the Documents page of our website, which now details the process of applying for an application. Our Detroit Scholarships page also has a detailed list of national scholarships at the top, and more information about The Detroit Compact.

19 January 2009: We issued a press release (click here) about our current 113 scholarship applicants from Cody High School.

15 January 2009: We gave a presentation to a staff meeting at the Cody 9 Academy. We have previously presented our program to the staff at the Cody upper school.

14 January 2009: We have simplified our application form even further. We no longer require a social security number or submission of transcripts. However, we have added a date of birth, and have indicated that an email address is mandatory. For the graduating classes of 2009 to 2012, the only eligibility criteria are continuous enrollment at Cody High School and residency in Detroit, both from December 1, 2008 through graduation. For graduating classes of 2013 and forward, the criteria are continuous enrollment at Cody High School and residency in Detroit from the first day of 9th grade through graduation.

11 January 2009: We received a donation of $5000 from the United Way for Southeastern Michigan. We recently emailed our monthly newsletter. As discussed there, we now require students to fill out the FAFSA financial aid form (link), and our award towards tuition and mandatory fees occurs only after application of federal, state and college grants. This will stretch our scholarship dollars so that we can help more students. We have now updated our website accordingly. We now have enough money to pay each graduating senior at least $500, if needed, and we may be able to pay more after a few months of fundraising.

10 December 2008: An interview with Greg Bowman was aired for his radio show, "Making the Grade" on WWJ Newsradio 950. Crain's Detroit Business published a short article about us on 7 December 08 (link). Western Michigan University published two new studies that the Kalamazoo Promise, in its first two years, has led to a 12% increase in student enrollment and raised teacher expectations (link expired).

2 December 2008: We officially started accepting applications from Cody High School in Detroit, our pilot high school, on 1 December 2008, and issued a press release (click here). An article appeared in La Prensa, billed as Ohio & Michigan's Oldest and Largest Latino Newspaper (click here), and a short brief appeared in the Detroit News. The AAA Schoolhouse, a publication of the Detroit Public Schools, also wrote about our program (page 2, click here).

20 November 2008: We met with Steve Wasko, Executive Director, Office of Public Relations, Detroit Public Schools, and gave a presentation to a Detroit School Board committee with Board Members Maria Thornton and Annie Carter present.

18 November 2008: We appeared on Arise Detroit's radio show on 16 November 2008 on WCHB, 1200 am with Luther Keith, their Executive Director. We have a new issue of our Monthly newsletter.

13 November 2008:

We have added several new endorsements for our program. Endorsements are accessed from the Endorsements page or by clicking here.

The IRS has indicated it is behind on processing applications for tax exempt status, and it appears that our application may not be processed until early 2009. As a result, we are seeking another non-profit to act as a fiduciary to handle our funds until we get our tax exempt status.

26 October 2008: The Detroit Jewish News, 26 September 2008, had a nice two page article about us. Click here for the link. Channel 4 (WDIV) had two interesting segments about the Kalamazoo Promise. The second mentioned us briefly.

20 October 2008: We are currently seeking endorsements from elected officials, local organizations / businesses and community leaders, to post on our Endorsements page. View our donors by clicking on the Donors link.

6 October 2008:

We met with The Skillman Foundation last month, and plan to pilot our program at Cody or Osborn High Schools, which are part of their Good Schools, Good Neighborhood Program. We estimate we will need $500,000 in pledges to begin the program at each school.

We received our Acknowledgement Notice from the IRS on 11 August 2008 regarding our tax exempt application. We hope to receive our approval letter by the end of 2008.

We also received our Charitable Solicitation License from the State of Michigan Department of Attorney General.

We are working on advancing our program by:

Getting pledges from businesses or individuals to contribute to the $500,000 needed to start a pilot school (current total pledged is $43,000)

Getting 1000 pledges of $20 or more, to demonstrate widespread community support

Getting 1000 names on our monthly email list, to promote widespread awareness of our charity. Contact us if you can help.

27 August 2008: We met with and plan to partner with the Northwestern High School Success Project (link expired), which currently has 40+ business partners, to develop a Promise type program. More details will be forthcoming. We also met with Sanual Mixon, Executive Director, Office of Pupil Personnel Services, Detroit Public Schools, and her staff, to discuss our program and how we can work together. DPS Superintendent Connie Calloway, in her newsletter to her staff, recently wrote about our program:

I was very encouraged to learn about the efforts of a local businessman to start Detroit's version of the Kalamazoo Promise. This has the potential to be great news for our students and we look forward to learning more about it from the organizers.

The impact the Kalamazoo Promise has had not only on the students and schools but on the overall vitality of the community is well documented.

Like the recent announcement of a venture fund to help fund turnaround school initiatives, this is a strong example that within our community including among our business leaders there is a sense that positive change is forthcoming at DPS.

21 August 2008: Our website now lists members of our Board of Directors and Advisory Board (on the Board page) and Endorsements (on the Endorsements page). To view our current business plan, click here. Today we appeared on WDET's Detroit Today radio show (click here for the audio). To volunteer to help The Detroit College Promise, please email NatPernick@Hotmail.com. We will send you an email from time to time of tasks that would be helpful.

19 August 2008: In response to a media release (click here) announcing the start of our fundraising efforts, the Detroit News published an article (click here) as did the Detroit Free Press (online only, click here). We were also interviewed by Fox 2 News, Channel 4 News, Michigan Radio, WWJ and WMUK-Kalamazoo.

18 August 2008: Crain's Detroit Business published a nice article about our program today (click here). The Detroit Free Press recently published a Letter to the Editor about the program (click here).

11 August 2008: We have started seeking pledges of financial support, and are ready to start the program once we receive pledges totaling $500,000. If you have not already done so, please email your pledge to NatPernick@Hotmail.com ("I pledge $___ to The Detroit College Promise", and indicate your name) or click here for a pledge form. Please also ask friends, colleagues or businesses to make a pledge, so we can start this program ASAP. We do not plan to seek payment of the pledges until December 2008. We have set up a partnership with Communities in Schools, who will help high school students with college preparedness.

14 July 2008: We established a nonprofit with the State of Michigan, and are in the process of obtaining our tax-exempt status. We attended the PromiseNet conference last month in Kalamazoo, and learned a great deal about setting up and administering the scholarship/grant program. We plan to begin our scholarship program with the high school graduating class of 2009, if we can get sufficient pledges by November 2008. Our Scholarship page lists all known scholarships/grants aimed specifically at Detroit students - contact us with any updates.